World Perspectives
livestock

Importance of Market Tools

It has been a wild year for U.S. pork producers. It started out dreary but then hopes picked up when the Phase One agreement was signed with China. It again turned dark with COVID-19 when packers lacked labor and had to shut fabrication plants due to disease outbreaks. Subsequent improvements in packing capacity and Chinese purchases of pork have helped but the margins realized by hog operations remain negative. However, there is a substantial difference between losing $60/head and losing less than $20/head. And there is a difference between making nearly $50/head and earning just $10/head when things were better in late May/early June. That 66 to 80 percent spread is strictly determined by whether a producer hedged his/her production or n...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: CBOT Falls as Big Crops Get Bigger

The CBOT was mostly bearish on Friday under the primary theme that big crops get bigger. That is true of Brazil’s safrinha production, the outlook for which CONAB raised yesterday, and Argentina’s soybean crop per the Rosario Grains Exchange’s latest estimates. Similarly, whea...

U.S. Agriculture Crisis

U.S. farmers’ export markets were challenging before the trade war, and they are not coming back. It is time for Plan B. The trade agreement still being negotiated with the United Kingdom will supposedly allow U.S. beef producers to fill up to 1.5 percent of the British market. Except the...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Jul 25 Corn closed at $4.435/bushel, down $0.05 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Wheat closed at $5.25/bushel, down $0.0775 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Soybeans closed at $10.5/bushel, down $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Soymeal closed at $291.9/short ton, down $4.5 f...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: CBOT Falls as Big Crops Get Bigger

The CBOT was mostly bearish on Friday under the primary theme that big crops get bigger. That is true of Brazil’s safrinha production, the outlook for which CONAB raised yesterday, and Argentina’s soybean crop per the Rosario Grains Exchange’s latest estimates. Similarly, whea...

U.S. Agriculture Crisis

U.S. farmers’ export markets were challenging before the trade war, and they are not coming back. It is time for Plan B. The trade agreement still being negotiated with the United Kingdom will supposedly allow U.S. beef producers to fill up to 1.5 percent of the British market. Except the...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Jul 25 Corn closed at $4.435/bushel, down $0.05 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Wheat closed at $5.25/bushel, down $0.0775 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Soybeans closed at $10.5/bushel, down $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Soymeal closed at $291.9/short ton, down $4.5 f...

biofuel

Policy Quick Hits

The following is a rundown of some key issues impacting agriculture: Reconciliation: The reconciliation bill passed through the Agriculture Committee on a party line vote, 29 to 25. All the amendments offered also passed by the same party line vote. The bill would cut the Supplemental Nutrition...

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From WPI Consulting

Forecasting developments in production agriculture

On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.

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